Low-cost on premise IP PBX with less than stellar support
July 03, 2019
Low-cost on premise IP PBX with less than stellar support
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with NetFortris (formerly Fonality)
We are using NetFortris Fonality on-premise phone servers at a client office of about 40 users. This is backed by a traditional copper PRI to support the voice needs of a small not for profit foundation. We had previously had 3 Fonality servers at multiple satellite offices, one with SIP trunks, another with a PRI, that were linked for intra-office calling.
- The on-premise server/seat licenses are relatively inexpensive.
- The configuration interface is not too difficult to navigate.
- The sales staff is very helpful and not at all overbearing or pushy.
- Many of these issues might be due to the age of the on-premise server we are using. The config interface can be unbearably slow.
- Creating call flows/phone trees is slow and inflexible.
- When we used NetFortris with SIP providers, service was spotty and troubleshooting was difficult -- much of the fault here lies with the SIP providers, but getting important troubleshooting info from NetFortris/the server was next to impossible.
- Support in general is slow and unhelpful.
- Server hardware is a Dell Optiplex tower with little in the way of redundancy. They do offer more traditional rack servers as well, but I can't speak to what sort of configuration they deploy with those.
- TCO has been very low. Phones and licenses are reasonably priced.
As stated, I inherited the Fonality on-premise server(s) I support. The organization's principals have requested staying with this system due to its low cost of ownership. Comparing to other on-premise systems, such as a generic Asterisk system, it offers some support (although I would probably choose community-based Asterisk support over the paid NetFortris support). Not listed, I do also have experience with GrandStream UCM IP PBX, which would be my go-to for an out of the box on-premise IP PBX, due to its low cost and simplicity. Overall though, I prefer cloud-hosted voice such as Vonage Business Cloud or RingCentral over any on-premise solution due to their simplicity, support, and low costs.